Jun 15, 2025 18:00:00

Experts point out that consideration for 'accessibility' to make games easier to play is declining

In game development, in addition to gameplay and graphics,

accessibility is also an important factor, adjusting functions such as operation, display, and sound so that everyone can enjoy the game regardless of age or disability. However, according to a consultant who oversees game accessibility, attention to accessibility is declining across the industry.

As the game industry cuts back, accessibility is feeling the impact | The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/games/669419/gaming-industry-accessibility-cutbacks

According to games consultant Laura Kate Dale, accessibility in games has become a mainstream discussion since 2020, and things have only gotten better. But 'as the year has progressed, there have been signs that behind the scenes progress on accessibility is starting to slow,' Dale said.

According to Dale, the entire gaming industry has been shrinking since mid-2023, and accessibility jobs were among the first to be cut to cut costs. Work has been canceled without clear explanation, and accessibility professionals have had to work harder to justify experimental investments in new accessibility as budgets shrink.

Consultant and content creator Steve Saylor said he had very few consulting jobs over the past year, adding, 'We're doing our best, but it's still tough. We don't know when it's going to recover. It's been getting worse since 2023.' Dale also revealed the tough situation, saying, 'I've been asked to do accessibility consulting work for three major AAA studios in the past 18 months, but in the end, the management cut the budget and the planned consulting work was canceled.'

From 2022 to 2023, large-scale layoffs were carried out at major IT companies such as Google, Amazon, and Microsoft, as well as at Disney and GitHub. In particular, serious layoffs have been occurring worldwide since around 2022 in the gaming industry. According to Game Industry Layoffs, which keeps records of layoffs in the gaming industry, approximately 8,500 game-related workers were laid off worldwide in 2022, approximately 10,500 in 2023, and 10,800 in the first six months of 2024 alone. The sharp increase in the 2024 figure is largely due to

Unity's layoff of 25% of its employees in January 2024 and Microsoft's layoff of 1,900 employees at game makers Activision Blizzard and Xbox, which it completed its acquisition of in October 2023.

Game companies are prone to large-scale layoffs, but Japan is the exception, but the working environment is far from ideal - GIGAZINE

by The part-time life of a hero and a corporate slave

The impact of mass layoffs and studio closures has also been felt by accessibility consultants, and consultants who were actively promoting accessibility awareness around 2020 have yet to build a basic foundation in 2025, Dale said.

Dale also worries that as many consultants leave the gaming industry, important knowledge about which accessibility features are implemented in which games and with what intent. According to information obtained by The Verge from multiple sources, the gaming industry is increasingly hiring accessibility consultants as contractors rather than full-time employees, and they are hired and fired for a single project, which makes the situation worse as there are often no records of knowledge and practices.

Dale points out that the existence of 'notable titles' is important in the discussion of accessibility. In fact, when ' The Last of Us Part II ' was released in 2020, more than 60 accessibility customization features, such as text-to-speech and high-contrast display functions for people with visual impairments, subtitles and combat assistance functions for people with hearing impairments, and auto-aim functions for people with motor impairments, became a hot topic. And Dale says that the accessibility of the popular 'The Last of Us Part II' was widely reported, which was a major motivation for other companies to follow suit immediately after its release.

A big hope for accessibility is the arrival of the Nintendo Switch 2. The Switch 2 sold 3.5 million units in just four days after its release, making it the fastest-selling console in Nintendo history. The Switch 2 features accessibility settings such as text size changes, button mapping, and text-to-speech functionality, and the importance of accessibility settings in a game that is attracting a lot of attention around the world may lead to subsequent game hardware and software following suit.

'The only way to change this is to keep asking for features that no one else has and keep asking for improvements until your team feels embarrassed about not being able to provide accessibility features,' Dale says.